Duke Closes Regular Season with 14-2 win Over Merrimack

Sunday, May 7

Bethpage, ,N.Y.

1 p.m.

Duke University

13-2

Merrimack College

7-7

Merrimack

Duke University

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Closes Regular Season with 14-2 win Over Merrimack

5/7/2023 6:03:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score Box Score

BETHPAGE, N.Y. – Duke junior attackman Brennan O'Neill scored two goals and dished seven assists to lead the top-ranked Blue Devils to a 14-2 victory over Merrimack at the Battle of Bethpage. The victory brings the regular season to a close for the Blue Devils.

The Blue Devils finish the regular season with a 13-2 overall record, while Merrimack finished 7-7 overall. The attack trio of Andrew McAdorey, Dyson Williams and O'Neill had 17 of Duke's 24 points.

Defensively, the Blue Devils forced the Warriors into 26 turnovers and held them to 32 shots in the four quarters.

How it Happened

Merrimack came out tough, forcing the Blue Devils into a couple of early turnovers. Duke broke through at 7:10 of the first quarter on a goal from Williams. It was all Blue Devils after that as they scored six more goals in the next 5:29. O'Neill either scored or assisted on seven of the team's first eight goals.
Senior Will Frisoli and junior Jake Naso both notched a goal in the first quarter, helping Duke to the 7-0 lead.
Merrimack broke through for a goal with 16 seconds left in the second quarter to cut Duke's lead to 8-1 at halftime.
Duke tacked on three goals in the third quarter and held the Warriors to five shots for an 11-1 lead with 15 minutes to play. McAdorey, Aidan Danenza and Williams scored the goals for the Blue Devils.
With Duke leading 13-2 in the fourth quarter, sophomore Jake Wilson capped the scoring for the Blue Devils with his first career goal.
The close defense of Kenny Brower, Wilson Stephenson and Keith Boyer anchored the defensive effort in combing for five caused turnovers and seven ground balls.
Merrimack goaltender Henry Vogt was excellent between the pipes with 15 saves on 50 shots faced.
Naso finished his afternoon 11-of-14 from the dot with eight ground balls. In goal, William Helm made three saves to earn his 13th win of the year. Garrett Smith also made three stops in 12 minutes of action.

Notes

The two goals allowed by Duke are the fewest since the Blue Devils beat Notre Dame, 8-2, in 2018.
With four goals on the afternoon Dyson Williams pushed his season total to 51, marking the 17th time a Blue Devil has scored at least 50 goals in a season. He is the 10th different Blue Devil to score 50 goals in a season and currently sits in a tie for 12th on the single-season chart.
Brennan O'Neill's nine points gave him 80 for the season, a career-best for the junior and ranking 13th in Duke's single-season record book. His 36 assists are tied for 13th and he is just the eighth player in program history to record 80 points in a season.
Jake Naso now has 722 career faceoff wins, inching closer to Brendan Fowler's Duke record of 816. Naso's 254 victories at the dot this season are a career-best and are 15 shy of breaking into the top 25 in NCAA single-season history.

Up Next

Duke awaits word who its next opponent will be in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Selection Show will be televised by ESPNU at 9:30 p.m. The Blue Devils will play either May 13 or May 14.

#GoDuke